Video: Mickelson predicts 'difficult' week at U.S Open

Players react after the first round of the 113th US Open at Merion Golf Course, Ardmore, Pennsylvania.

Phil Mickelson, 3-under (On flying in early in the morning after attending his daughter’s graduation ceremony)
“Really proud of her. She did a great job and she even quoted Ron Burgundy, so it was funny. And I was really glad I was there. Ceremony was at 6:00. I got on the plain at 8:00, landed 3:30. Had a few hours sleep. We had a rain delay here, so I went and slept for an hour. I feel great. So this is not that out of the ordinary; I do this about six, ten times a year where I fly back east red eye, play some outing and then come home. So it’s not out of the ordinary.”

“Well, this was as easy as this golf course is going to play. We had very little wind, there was some but very little. We had soft fairways, soft greens, and we no mud balls. So we had the best opportunity to score low. And we are all struggling because it’s such a penalising golf course. It’s penalising if you miss the fairways, very difficult if you miss the greens, and it’s not a given to 2-putt on these greens. They’re some of the most pitched greens we have ever seen and they’re very quick. It’s a course that’s withstood the test of time and it’s challenging the best players in the world this week. As the week wears on and the conditions get a little bit dryer, a little bit firmer, I think the course is going to get even more difficult and the scores are going to hover very close to par.”